Last night, we had a leader meeting to talk about our focus for the next year of ministry. We took some time to celebrate some wins and had some incredible Chili!!! Side note: I love chili. We also took a lot of time to push small groups. The highlight of the night was an illustration that was given by Jared. Continue Reading…
Archive - Communication
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Rice Krispies Treats commercial and Preteen Ministry
Family Milestones: Parent Child Dedication
Iron Man Target Commercial and Preteen Ministry
Re:Form Confirmation Curriculum for students
Nikon D3100: looks sweet, makes me sad 
iStand-A POS solution for iPad
David Crowder Band’s New Album
Revolutionary Parenting Giveaway
Switch Kicks Shirt
Yellow Intiatives
The questions are good
You want kids to continue to ask questions
But there are too many questions
The kid who has 1,000 questions
The kid who has 1,000 stories
BSM Leader meeting recap
Netflix raises prices and how to communicate changes
So today Netflix announced changes to its plans and pricing structures. I’m a Netflix customer and was really interested in what all the chaos was about on twitter. I know that this space is dedicated as a ministry space and I totally understand your confusion. I wanted to take a few things from the changes and see if you agree with some of the things that I pull from this and apply to ministry: Continue Reading…
Communication Advice for Preteen Ministry
In your Preteen Ministry, Children’s Ministry or Student Ministry are you living by this extremely important communication advice from Zig Ziglar? Or do you even believe it?
Are you communicating logically or emotionally?
Top Blog Posts of October 2010
So without further ado, here are my top blog posts for the month of October.
Homiletics for rookies
I’ve been incredibly intrigued lately about the idea of message preparation in ministry. Mainly because the new guy at Brookwood, Jared Patrick, is a rock solid communicator and I’m incredibly impressed by his ability to communicate. As a sidenote I’m so incredibly excited for the new season of Student Ministry at Brookwood Church and what Jared brings to the table as High School Pastor. Anyway, he’s been dropping a few bits and pieces of wisdom on my head about homiletics.
Homiletics is defined as the study of the analysis, classification, preparation, composition and delivery of sermons.
Now he hasn’t called it homiletics and I don’t have a Bible degree (mine is in Marketing), but it’s what it’s called nonetheless. I get that Senior Pastors probably have a crazy incredible process, but not really what I’m interested in learning about today. I want to hear from Kidmin, Stumin, and Preteenmin communicators. A couple things I want to know about are these:
- How do you start your creative process on message creation?
- Do you tweak curriculum or a go from scratch girl or guy?
- What does your study method look like?
- What do you bring to the stage?
- How much time do you have to speak? (main reason I’m not interested in Senior Pastors here)
I would love, love, love to make some notes available for people if you have screenshots, digital copies, or scanned images that you would like to allow us to see. But honestly, here is my heart. I would love to see rock solid communicators everywhere in Family Ministry. I would love to help spark some conversations and provide some resources in that way.
So what do you have?
Teach me….
Looking for a new notebook :)
So I’m in the market for a new set of notebooks. I’m finally on my last blue Moleskine and need a new notebook. You guys know that I’m a junkie when it comes to this stuff. So I’m thinking about sticking with Moleskine, unless someone has a notebook to try and persuade me to change my ways.
So please….
Point me to my new notebook
Could “Authenticity” be fading?
Certificate of Authenticity 1, originally uploaded by TheGrossUncle.
I’m just thinking out loud here, but yesterday we were having a conversation in the offices at Brookwood about how can we truly measure authenticity?
In this age of completely skeptical consumers, could authenticity become the next term that is well…not authentic?
I don’t think the authenticity part is incorrect to have as a part of your life, but authenticity must become a part of character rather than a strategy of communication.
What do you think? Is communicating authenticity becoming inauthentic?
Need some brand help? Check out match Matchstic
So I’m a little bit of a marketing geek. It’s actually something that I am very, very, very passionate about. Can you tell yet? 
Anyways, I am always ok with giving people resources to help improve their brand.
So I am here to point out this resource to you. Matchstic is a Brand Identity House. They help your brand strengthen, align, and maybe for the first time identify your unique brand. I have never worked with Matchstic, but I have read their blog and seen their work on numerous occasions from afar. They are legit in the advice that they give to companies and they are an incredible resource for you and your brand as a Children’s Ministry, College Ministry, Church, or business. Not to mention the fact that some of their work looks Omazing!!
So if you don’t even get what brand means, or are looking for some guidance on some small ways to strengthen your brand. Check them out at their homepage or their blog. You won’t be disappointed.
This is in no way a sponsored post. Matchstic just rocks imo
How to deal with difficult kids: The Joker
This is a series that I began a few weeks ago. You can see my post about the Riddler here.
So again apply the general rules to this as well.
You Control the Room
Relationship is key
Know your timing
Characteristics of The Joker
Likes to roam, can’t stand still, loves attention are a few of the characteristics. The one thing that this kid does impeccably well is be a distraction to the other kids.(sounds very similar to your large group leader I would assume too :p) Understand that tension, not the problem, as Andy Stanley said this week at the Global Leadership Summit. That you must balance giving kids the freedom to engage in the conversation and teaching and also teaching the content. It’s not a one way or the other kind of thing.
So what are some ways to get this kid to stop being a distraction and become an engaged part of the teaching?
Specific strategies for The Joker
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Get them to help
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Allow them to become an active illustration
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Change your style of teaching-
Whether they are passing out snacks, handouts, or helping with the game. Give them something to do. Allow them to become a part of the teaching rather than a receiver of the teaching.
I don’t remember where I saw this being done but I was completely impressed. A leader had some Jokers on his hands. He was teaching about Shad, Meese, and Abe and the furnace. So he called the Jokers up on stage to be the fiery furnace. He asked them to use their arms to be the flames and also explained how the King cranked that furnace up hotter than ever and the kids had to illustrate that as well with their hands and energy. It was a brilliant idea. Get your kids involved in what’s going on.
This is especially true if you have a lot of Jokers on your hands. It might be seating changes, it might be the schedule, it might be the amount of time, or it might be the material. If you have a ton of distractions on a consistent basis then it’s time to make a large group change. Put everything on the table and try and figure it out.
One last thing
I’ll say this again. It’s on you. Not on these kids to make large group meaningful, it’s on you.
How to deal with difficult kids: The Riddler
The Riddler (DC Direct First Appearance Series 3), originally uploaded by Clarkent78.
Ever had a kid that asks way too many questions? So many questions that it is a distraction for the rest of the kids in the large group? Most of us have been to this place and it’s a tough place to be. For this series I want to highlight the conflict, the person, and some strategy to help you out.
The Conflict
There is this tug between these three things. You want your kids to ask good questions. You want them to be engaged in the teaching and if they are asking questions then you know they are engaged. But sometimes kids get overzealous and feel like this is there time to ask anything and everything. You have to be able to balance these three thoughts in the Conflict.
The Person: The Riddler
This kind of kid comes in two forms but honestly, there are a ton of variations.
Now I’m joking obviously and grouping kids together in a specific niche.
For most of these kids they are starving for attention, especially species number dos. But again the balance of the conflict must remain in your mind at all times.
The Strategy:
So how in the world can you keep the balance of maintaining control of the room and also continue to encourage kids to ask questions? How can you figure out the balance to the conflict that the Riddler presents you?
First there are a few universal principles that you need to know and I will repeat them on every single blog of this topic.
You control the room
You are the large group leader. It falls on you to create, manage, and develop a welcoming environment that engages kids with spiritual truth. It is your responsibility to control the environment.
Relationship is key
If you don’t know the kid’s name that is asking the questions, well then you probably don’t have enough of a relationship with them to have a tough conversation with them. Build a relationship with the kids and be able to have a conversation because of your relationship with that child.
Know your timing
This is where most noobs get in trouble. I absolutely failed at this when I began. When I first started teaching large groups, kids would ask questions and I would take them. But I ran out of time, every time. The lesson wouldn’t get taught because I wasn’t responsible for the time that was given for the large group teaching. Know your timing and know if you have the time to take questions, discpline, and joke around with the kids and still be able to teach the lesson.
Specific strategies for this kind of difficult kid
- Always take the first question-
- Help to guide the questions to stay on subject-
- Help them to make sure that they are asking God questions too-
- Tough Conversation-
It helps kids to know that you want to answer their questions. Always try and answer it to the best of your ability. And be honest. I’ve dove into some deeper theology before here and also been able to tell them that there isn’t necessarily a clear answer in scripture, and also said ,that I have no idea. Honesty is always the best policy.
Questions are so incredibly important for kids and if a kid can ask a question that will help another kid understand the lesson a bit more, what more could you ask for? Help by asking a few guiding questions. Is this question about forgiveness? Is this question about serving God? Is this question about our Bible Story? If not then can we talk about it after our teaching time? Help them to be able to make responsible decisions and be ready to determine for themselves (in time) whether that question is appropriate for right now.
One thing that is constant in my teaching is that I want them to know that interaction with God is tangible. Sometimes I do this to a fault. But I want kids to know that God wants to answer their questions even more than I do.
It might be a time for tough conversations if this begins to be a pattern rather than a particular time. Always be kind but give them responsibility. Please don’t say that it makes Jesus sad that you have questions and interrupt the class. If you do this and I find out I will be praying mean things. Just kidding. Sorta.
Know that if you lose control it’s ok. Everyone does at some point. But evaluate what happened. Know that the only person that is responsible for the environment in the room is the one leading. Don’t blame the kids, for lack of environmental control. It’s on you.
Be diligent and work hard.
Build relationships with the kids.
Constantly continue to develop and get better.
How have you dealt with a kid that asks too many questions or has a million stories to tell? Any strategies you would add?
